Aug
20
2003Counter-Googling, or, How Not To Win My Business
20
2003
Allow me to paraprahase this article from “Trendwatching.com”.
Calling all go-get-’em marketeers! Here’s an exciting new way to attract customers! It’s called Counter-Googling! It works like this: Find a prospective customer, use Google to dig up personal information about them (Hey, it’s publically available, right!) and then use that information to tailor-design an offer to the customer!
Now, allow me to extrapolate.
…Why stop with publically available information on the INTERNET? Why not drive by the customers’ house and see if, say, their car is looking a little rusty? And if you just HAPPEN to be walking by, and hear an argument between Mr. Customer and his wife, perhaps offer a marriage counseling course, at a deep discount! Or why not follow him around the supermarket, and see what kind of shampoo or soft drinks he prefers? HEY, THIS IS ALL PUBLICALLY AVAILABLE INFORMATION, RIGHT?!
Point being: Just because I expose a bit of information publically doesn’t mean you have the right to use that information for commercial purposes, INCLUDING MARKETING TO ME. If a company contacts me, armed with anything but the most basic information about me, they will never, ever, get my business.
The fact that I, technically, work in Marketing, does not change the fact that many “hot new marketing concepts” make me want to puke.